[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Pages 25744-25745]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         UNEMPLOYMENT EXTENSION

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, shortly we will be voting on a cloture 
motion on the motion to proceed to the unemployment compensation issue. 
Senator Durbin addressed this issue a few minutes ago. I want to 
underscore how important it is for us to move forward.
  Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit one of our employment 
offices in Maryland. We have a one-stop location where people looking 
for work can come and get the services of not only governmental 
agencies but nonprofit agencies to help them find employment. I have 
been to these offices in the past in Maryland. I have had a chance to 
talk to people who are seeking employment.
  When I walked into that office yesterday, I was shocked to see how 
many people were there. It was hard to get through the door. People 
were coming in desperate to try to find jobs because there are no jobs 
out there for them to find. They are desperate to be employed, not only 
for the sake of having income but for the dignity that comes with 
employment. We have a problem out there. I think we all understand 
that.
  I will give you two people with whom I talked yesterday: Bernice from 
Anne Arundel County, a resident who worked for a mortgage company until 
it went out of business, she has been unemployed since September 2008. 
She is about ready to lose her UI benefits. She talked about how 
difficult it was for her to talk about this, how difficult it was for 
her to tell her story. All she wants is a job. She wants the dignity 
and income of a job.
  Charlene from Baltimore talked about being employed by Business 
Manager for Watermark Media. She lost her job in September 2008 when 
the company went out of business. She is a very qualified individual. 
Yet she cannot find employment. Her UI ran out on October 25. Her 
husband is expected to lose his job this week, and it is possible she 
will lose her family home.
  That is what we are talking about, people in our communities who are 
unemployed and cannot find employment.

[[Page 25745]]

We now know there is about 1.9 million Americans who will run out of 
unemployment benefits by the end of this year unless we act, unless we 
take action. That includes about 25,000 Marylanders who will find 
themselves without any benefits. Currently, there are over 15 million 
Americans who are unemployed and over 200,000 Marylanders who can't 
find jobs. We need to act. We need to act on behalf of Bernice and 
Charlene and the literally hundreds of thousands of Americans who 
shortly will be running out of their unemployment benefits.
  The bill before us is an extension of an additional 14 weeks of 
benefits for every State in the country. The original bill that came 
over from the House had a trigger mechanism of 8.5 percent 
unemployment. I brought this chart to show my colleagues why it is 
important to extend benefits in every State in this Nation. I think 
Maryland is a typical State.
  Our unemployment numbers may be a little bit lower than the national 
average. We are in the 7 percent unemployment rate. But look at the 
orange counties in my State of Maryland: Cecil County, 8.6 percent 
unemployment; Caroline County, 8.8 percent unemployment; Dorchester 
County, 10.9 percent unemployment; Somerset County, 9.5 percent; 
Washington County, one of the growth counties not far from here, 9.4 
percent unemployment--some of those people commute to Washington to 
work--and then Baltimore City, the center of our State, 10.6 percent 
unemployment.
  I thank the leadership for bringing forward an unemployment 
compensation proposal to extend benefits that apply to every State 
because we need it in Maryland. I could talk about minority 
unemployment and the fact that the African-American unemployment rate 
in this country is around 15 percent. The Latino unemployment rate is 
around 12 percent. There are pockets of unemployment in all of our 
States that are at extraordinarily high numbers, and that is why we 
need to extend the unemployment benefits.
  Let me also point out that these are not benefits that aren't paid 
for. These are insurance benefits. They are paid for by the current 
workforce. They pay into a fund so we have money available in a 
recession to help those who lose their jobs and can't find employment. 
That is why it is called unemployment insurance benefits. It is there 
for this circumstance.
  Is there anyone here who denies that we are not in a tough time if 
you are looking for a job? We all know that. So now is the time to 
extend unemployment benefits so people have income in order to be able 
to literally survive until our economy can rebound.
  Let me also point out, I know there are a lot of us who are always 
looking for bills on which to put amendments. I understand the 
frustration of some of my colleagues. Here is a bill, it is a tax bill, 
let's put a provision on it. Quite frankly, I have a few provisions I 
would like to see enacted into law. This is not the right bill to do it 
on. If we put amendments on this bill and let it go back to the House 
with issues that are unrelated to unemployment compensation, it could 
take a long time to reconcile those differences.
  We already have some differences with the House with regard to the 
States that qualify. Let's reconcile that quickly so that individuals 
such as Charlene, who currently are losing their benefits, know soon 
that they are going to be able to continue to get these unemployment 
benefits. It is important that we act quickly to get the job done.
  One last point for my colleagues. This is important. It is the right 
thing to do. It is what government is here for--to help people who are 
literally out of luck because of no fault of their own but the economy. 
It is what we are supposed to do as far as the right type of social 
programs to protect people during tough economic times. But there is a 
tradeoff that helps our economy. This money goes directly back into our 
economy. Every dollar we pay out in unemployment insurance benefits 
will come back and have a multiplier effect of more money than we give 
in benefits in helping our economy grow. So this is the right remedy to 
help our economy. It is the right thing to do for the 1.9 million 
Americans who otherwise would lose their benefits by the end of the 
year.
  We have a chance in just a few minutes to move this bill forward so 
it can be reconciled with the House quickly, and then we can assure the 
people of our community that, indeed, we responded and provided the 
appropriate type of relief for those who cannot find employment today.
  With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.

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